Cameron’s crackdown on immigrant benefits is just another grubby con
![[Picture: I Am Incorrigible blog - http://imincorrigible.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/evidence-not-ideology-benefit-tourism-the-problem-only-fruitloops-and-tories-can-see/ - which agrees that benefit tourism is a non issue and distraction from the UK's real problems.]](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/131127immigrantcon.jpg)
[Picture: I Am Incorrigible blog – http://imincorrigible.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/evidence-not-ideology-benefit-tourism-the-problem-only-fruitloops-and-tories-can-see/ – which agrees that benefit tourism is a non issue and distraction from the UK’s real problems.]
According to the BBC, Cameron said the “magnetic pull” of UK benefits needed addressing to attract people for the right reasons.
But the announcement seems to be deliberately confusing.
It seems this restriction will only apply to people born abroad who have had a job in this country and then lost it. They are the only migrant group currently allowed to claim JSA for six months before the benefit is cut off “unless they [have] very clear job prospects”, as Cameron put it in the BBC article.
EU migrants who were claiming benefits in their own countries must fill in an E303 form in order to receive benefits at the destination country – which are issued at the same rates as in their country of origin for a total of three months only. Failure to find employment in that time means the loss of the benefit or a return to the country of origin.
The BBC article is vague about this; it’s as if Auntie – and Cameron – are trying to hoodwink you (shurely shome mishtake? – Ed) into thinking he is restricting benefits for people who come here looking for work, which is something he cannot do.
Perhaps Cameron is trying to avoid the embarrassment created by his last attempt to claim he was doing something about immigration; he announced five proposals, one of which related to all employers (quadrupling fines for those that do not pay the minimum wage), while the other four were already part of the law of this land.
That little Con was exposed very quickly, on this blog and others.
Note also that he is still trying to say people are coming here from abroad in order to claim our benefits.
That is a lie.
From Vox Political‘s article last year: “UK citizens are a greater drain on the state than immigrants from Europe. Between 1995 and 2011 EEA immigrants paid in 4 per cent more than they took out, whereas native-born Brits only paid in 93 per cent of what they received. Between 2001 and 2011 recent EEA immigrants contributed 34 per cent more than they took out, a net contribution of £22bn.”
Considering the timing of this announcement, it seems likely that Cameron wanted something to take attention away from Andy Burnham’s speech on the Coalition’s dirty little backroom deals to privatise more of the NHS, reported on this blog earlier today.
He must be scraping the bottom of the barrel.
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The truth is new immigrants claim few benefits. The problem is 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants have in the case of some groups an unemployment rate of between 60% and 75%.
There is also the problem of serial cousin marriage which has resulted in just 2% of immigrants producing around 30% of the disabled babies born in Britain.
(Declaring an interest I am married to my 1st cousin and we quite deliberately made a decision to have no children because of hereditary health problems/conditions.)
Of course it’s just a political stunt. When the government was asked how much they estimated would be saved through this measure they did not know. Now this really is worrying in that we have a government introducing legislation with no data to support the need for it other than the rabid right wing of the Tory Party wanting it to satiate their hatred of anyone who is not British.
Summed up very well in the last sentence.
Reblogged this on sdbast.
Reblogged this on Politics and Insights – kittysjones .
Reblogged this on SMILING CARCASS'S TWO-PENNETH and commented:
“unless they [have] very clear job prospects”? Well then, why would they be claiming JSA?
Reblogged this on Britain Isn't Eating.
It’s Cameron, he’s lying or fudging things again…
Reblogged this on Jay's Journal and commented:
No matter about the benefits – but some time we are going to have to stop immigration for a few years as we are now a country overwhelmed with too many people.
There is only so much that our land can sustain so we have to address the issue, and soon!
Dodgy Dave up north, dodging viewers’ questions, on the economic recovery and food banks.
http://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2014-07-29/extended-granada-reports-interview-with-prime-minister
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
Mike here suggests that Cameron’s announcement that he is going to crackdown on migrant workers coming to Britain to claim benefits is just another attempt to distract the nation from their plans to privatise the health service even further. Benefits tourism has been shown to be a myth, and the reforms promised to Cameron will only affect a minority of migrants. Who arguably shouldn’t be targeted for being deprived of unemployment benefit at all. It really does seem to be Cameron playing on the knee-jerk nationalism and xenophobia to distract from his continuing plans to sell off the health service.
“The magnetic pull of benefits”. Yeah, sure. People come here to live on £71 a week. The vast majority of immigrants work for a pittance and pay their taxes. More dog whistle bullshit from a Prime Minister with no ideas and slippery grasp of reality.